A 31-year-old Penn-Trafford High School teacher is facing three criminal charges after police say he sent inappropriate messages to a 17-year-old male student.

Michael David Garet, a high school Spanish teacher, was charged Thursday with misdemeanor counts of stalking, harassment and disorderly conduct. He has been on leave from the district since the investigation began in February.

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Police said the messages weren't obviously sexual in nature, but they say the evidence appears Garet was grooming his victim.

"We are certainly uncomfortable with the situation unfolding between an adult staff member and a minor student. Those are situations that we address quickly and seriously," Penn Township Police Chief John Otto said. "We were able to capture and view a significant number of text messages from Mr. Garet's phone to the victim in this case's phone and evaluate those for content. In our opinion, those text messages were very inappropriate and in fact criminal."

Police secured search warrants and reviewed dozens of messages allegedly between Garet and the boy from Nov. 23, 2013 through early February. Police said many of the messages revolved around Garet trying to find out what the boy was doing in his spare time and if he wanted to spend time with him.

In one such message, in response to the boy visiting a friend who lived down the street from Garet, Garet allegedly told the boy which house was his.

"Right down the road from me. Hahaha, now you know where to go for the World Cup viewing parties this summer! Hahaha," police said the message stated.

In other messages, police said Garet would plan his days at school around what the boy's schedule looked like. In one message, police said Garet wrote, "By the way, what do you want to do for 7th period tomorrow: library or my room?"

"Mr. Garet, in numerous messages, invites the victim to meet or go with him to events, restaurants, multiple locations in the area and the high school. This includes Pitt basketball games, the high school while school was not in session, his residence while his wife was away and college on-campus visits," police wrote in the affidavit of probable cause.

The boy printed the conversations and gave them to his mother, who took them to the school principal. The boy said his younger sister would be starting classes at the high school in the coming months, and he did not want Garet to talk to her that way.

"These texts, while they may not have been directly sexual in nature, were certainly disturbing, certainly put this young man in fear for his own personal safety and certainly crossed the line from inappropriate into criminal conduct," Otto said.

Penn-Trafford School District Superintendent Matthew Harris was off Friday. When reached by phone, he confirmed Garet had not been in the building since the investigation was launched.